NeuroTalk Support Groups - immune system a major role in damaging dopamine cells

Published Wednesday | January 9, 2008
UNMC researchers find cause for worsening of Parkinson’s disease in mice
BY MICHAEL O'CONNOR
WORLD-HERALD STAFF WRITER

Researchers at the University of Nebraska Medical Center have found a cause for the worsening of Parkinson's disease in mice.

The findings will help scientists develop vaccines aimed at curbing the progress of the neurodegenerative disease in humans, said Dr. Howard Gendelman, director of the Center for Neurovirology and Neurodegenerative Disorders at UNMC.

The research also included studying brain tissue of Parkinson's patients who died, said Gendelman, the scientist who directed the research.

The research, published recently in four journals, including the Public Library of Science, involved scientists at Columbia University in New York City and Rush Medical School in Chicago.

Dr. Harris Gelbard, a University of Rochester professor who is familiar with the research but not involved in it, said the work is an important step toward finding new ways to treat the disease.

"I'm hoping it takes us to the next level," he said.

Gendelman said that although the research brings UNMC closer to developing a vaccine that would prevent Parkinson's from getting worse, such a vaccine is still years away. Scientists worldwide are working on a vaccine.

About 1.5 million Americans have Parkinson's, according to the National Parkinson Foundation, but estimates vary. Symptoms include tremors, rigidity, slowed movement and impaired balance.

Gendelman said researchers made the discovery while testing a potential Parkinson's vaccine on mice. The vaccine has not been tested on humans.

Scientists have known that certain proteins clump together in parts of the brain. Those proteins become distorted and damage nerve cells in the brain that produce dopamine, which leads to Parkinson's symptoms. Dopamine coordinates smooth function of muscles and movement.

The vaccine was aimed at activating the immune system in the mice so it would break up the clumps of proteins.

The researchers discovered that not only was the immune system attacking the clumps of proteins, it also was destroying the dopamine cells, making Parkinson's worse.

They also found that the immune system even attacked the dopamine cells in mice that didn't receive the vaccine.

Researchers then examined the brain tissue of people with Parkinson's who had died.

The brain tissue showed signs that the immune system had played a major role in damaging dopamine cells, even though the Parkinson's patients had not received the vaccine.

Gendelman said the researchers concluded that the immune system's attack on the dopamine cells occurs naturally, as part of the disease.

The findings, he said, will guide researchers in developing vaccines that will do three things: activate the parts of the immune system that attack the protein clumps, suppress the part of the immune system that destroys the dopamine cells and regenerate damaged nerve cells.

R. Lee Mosley, a UNMC assistant professor, also was involved in the research. Gendelman credited the research of graduate students Ashley Reynolds and Eric Benner and postdoctoral fellow Rebecca Banerjee.

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